


Maid to Serve - Sweet Little Things

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Series: Maid to Serve Alternate [3]
Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-01-07 05:30:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18404078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: A collection of (mostly) non-canon omakes based on Maid to Serve and my Alternate. Note that while this collection contains no sexually explicit material, the works it's based on do.Contents not guaranteed to be particularly sweet.





	1. I'm Not Maid For This

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Maid to Serve](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428956) by [WestOrEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOrEast/pseuds/WestOrEast). 



> Wait, I'm starting a new omake collection?
> 
> Seems that I am. Sweet Little Things is for ideas I've had in the Maid to Serve original continuity, my Alternate continuity, or maybe neither of them, that involve things other than sex. (And I'm retroactively adding "I'm Not Maid For This" to it.)
> 
> Even when they take place in Alternate, none of them are canon.
> 
> Probably.
> 
> Except when otherwise noted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on an omake written by WestOrEast that was posted between chapters 6 and 6.5 of Maid to Serve... ~~that doesn't seem to be available on Ao3. Whoops.~~ that can now be seen on Ao3 at the end of [chapter 9](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428956/chapters/44290495) of Maid to Serve.

"-and so that's why I'm here."

Brian looked at me from across the table, before pronouncing "You're an idiot," in a flat, level voice. "Also, there's a voice inside me saying I should kill you for laying hands on my little sister, even though I know it's more like her laying hands on you."

"That's not important right now!" I wailed. "I thought keeping up with Missy was hard, but with two of them it's impossible. They can clean faster than I can make a mess, even -with- my swarm." I took a deep breath. "I need you to hide me!"

Brian's expression didn't change. "I think there's one major problem with your master plan."

"And what's that?"

That's when I felt arms wrapped around me from behind. "Now, we can finally be alone..." Aisha whispered in her best facsimile of a seductive purr, before saying in a normal tone of voice, "Oh, hi bro."

Brian looked torn between being disturbed and being highly amused. "My sister -lives here-."


	2. Body Language

I wasn't quite sure how I had ended up at Skitter's lair playing Rock Band with her, Imp, and Toggle.

Well, part of it was probably that I was in varying degrees of relationships with all of them.

Still, it was one thing for Toggle to be fine with my relationship with Taylor once she'd been satisfied that I was happy and wasn't being coerced. It was another thing for her to start actually palling around with the notorious villain herself when she was off-duty. Yet here we all were.

But I was out of time to think about that. I lifted up my microphone, tilted my head back, and at just the right time...

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Toggle was really starting to get into it.

"Meet the new boss"

She always put more motion into her performances than the rest of us did when we were on guitar. It didn't do great things for her score, since sometime she'd activate overdrive by accident at bad times.

"Same as the old boss"

But it was always a lot of fun to watch.

Then I saw her start to shrug off her guitar, even though the song wasn't quite over.

Oh hell, she was going for the full Pete Townshend experience. I reached out to grab her, but I already knew I was going to be too late.

But Taylor wasn't. A wall of insects formed in front of Toggle. It wouldn't have been enough to stop her, but it broke her out of her trance. "Please don't break my TV," she added. "Again."

Toggle rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Whoops. I got too into it again, didn't I?"

"It's fine," Taylor replied. "Just don't break my TV."

"Did you have to block everything out like that though?" Imp groused. "I was going to get a full combo!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by an at-a-glance misread of the poll in the Maid to Serve thread (on QQ). "Toggle is... The Who?" Imp was thrown in mainly because I wanted them to have a full band.
> 
> I'm sure when I've played this song it actually showed one of your custom characters doing the guitar breaking in this song, but I haven't been able to find a video of that.
> 
> Still, when I was watching one, the lyrics kind of snuck up on me...


	3. Body Language - Epilogue

I was staying over with Taylor that night. I was just about to fall asleep, when I heard her whimpering something.

"And the world looks just the same... And the history ain't changed... 'Cause the banners they all flown in the last war..."

"Taylor, wake up." I reached over and shook her a little. "You're having a nightmare."

She rolled over towards me, and I could see the tears running down her cheeks. "No," she whispered, "I'm not having a nightmare."

"I'm living in one."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you might be wondering what that last bit was all about.
> 
> (Or maybe it's obvious, I'm never sure.)
> 
> One of the things that I'm expecting to happen sooner or later is Taylor actually realizing that parahuman feudalism doesn't really feature a happy ending for her or the people she cares about. (Even if she probably wouldn't use the phrase "parahuman feudalism".)
> 
> This is one of the less plausible ways for it to come up, but I have others... Really though, it just kind of snuck in there.


	4. Until the Screaming is Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a hypothetical "what happens later" to Maid to Serve Chapter 8. Because if I write it down, then I can get it out of my head.
> 
> Some days, the subtitle of this subseries is a lie. And those days seem to be every day.

**Taylor**

After Missy left-

After Vista left, I just stood there staring at the door. Why? Why had she done it?

Did it even matter?

I heard the toilet upstairs flushing, and then footsteps on the stairs a minute or so later.

"Okay, Skitter, I-" Tattletale started.

It didn't take knowing her the way I did to tell when I came into her line of sight, and her power started telling her things that she didn't like.

"Taylor. What did you -do-?"

I turned around. "You knew."

"Of course I knew," she replied. "Knowing things, it's pretty much what I do."

"Then why didn't you -say- anything?! Aren't you supposed to be watching for spies in our midst?" I tried to keep myself from screaming at her. Screaming at Tattletale never made anything better.

"Spies, huh," and she looked me straight in the eyes. "I can't remember when I've -ever- heard of any wannabe heroes trying to spy on the Undersiders. It's simply unheard of."

"That's not the same!" It wasn't like I didn't see the parallels. There'd even been someone I'd been attracted to when I'd joined the Undersiders.

But I'd never tried to use Grue the way Vista had used me.

"Oh? Well, let's look at it from a different angle then. So Vista shows up and spies on you a bit. I don't out her to you, because -are you seriously saying you'd want me outing people-?" Okay, I had to admit she was right about that last part. I wouldn't have been happy about Tattletale outing anyone even before it'd happened to me.

She was still talking. "And thus, the PRT is for a short time slightly more effective against us than if they allocated their patrols via dartboard. They completely lose interest in the whole thing, especially when it risks their precious Shaker 9. And I, benevolent soul that I am, continue to not crush your happiness by running off the spy, since she pretty much isn't one anymore. And don't bother denying that, we've -all- noticed how much happier you've been with Missy in your life, even if most of the others don't know why."

I wasn't going to try to deny that. I knew I'd been happy, that's why it hurt so much. But if it wasn't about spying, then-

"Oh, and don't kid yourself that it's about sex either. You're not that good. Nobody's good enough to make someone put up with what you've done to that girl, and I'm -not- talking about your kinky bedroom games."

Dammit Lisa, let me ask questions before you start answering them! "Then why?! Why did she keep coming back to me, if she wasn't using me for sex or information?"

"Don't you get it, Taylor?" Lisa's tone became gentler, but her words were like arrows going through my heart.. "It's you. It's always been you. Missy kept coming back to you no matter how much it scared her because she wanted to be with -you-."

Me. Me. Me.

Oh god.

"Lisa," I cried. "What have I done?"

"What have you done? What are you -doing-, Taylor?"

"What?"

I got the impression that Lisa was barely holding herself back from grabbing my collar and shaking me by it. "Is. She. In. Your. Range?"

"Yes." The question was faster answered than asked. She wasn't moving that fast, and I still had relay bugs spread out, so all it took was wanting to know and I knew.

"Then do something, you fool! I wouldn't blame her if she didn't even -want- your sorry ass anymore, but at least try not destroying your own happiness for a change!"

I bolted for the door.

**Missy**

I could still hear Skitter's words ringing in my ears.

_Get out of here._

_Don't ever come back._

_I can't even stand to look at you anymore._

I'd known she'd be mad. But it was worse than I'd ever imagined. Or at least, anything I'd imagined where I still walked away. But I still didn't know what I could have done differently. By the time I realized how serious the truth was, I was too deep in the lie.

Maybe I shouldn't have ever gone to that stupid party in the first place. What had it really gotten me in the end?

I pulled my right hand out of my pocket, and looked at the smashed bit of plastic that I'd shoved in there earlier. No one would ever guess from looking at it that it had saved my life not so long ago.

I threw it to the ground. That part of my life was all over now.

***

Was I still in Skitter's range? Did it even matter? She may not know my full name, but she knew more than enough to find me now.

But there was no point in worrying about it. She could have done the same thing to me that she did to all those Brotherhood guys at any time, and she hadn't. There was no point in worrying about it any more.

And that's when the swarm surrounded me, because the universe apparently has a nasty sense of humor.

But this was so different from what I was used to that I just barely realized that I ought to be scared. Skitter's swarms tended to be unpleasant things by most people's aesthetic standards. Colors were mostly muted, and even the hints of brightness were simply another threat indicator. And then there was the noise. But this was different. The insects around me were the Starstrucks of their kind - they were beautiful and they wanted everyone to know it.

No one had ever been stung to death by a swarm of butterflies.

And then they rushed away almost as quickly as they'd come. A few landed on me for a moment before taking off again, and I couldn't help giggling at the one that had perched on my nose. Then they were gone too...

But I still felt tiny legs on me.

There was a single ladybug crawling around on my hand.

I don't know how long I stood there just watching it. I wasn't sure I even dared to see a message in it.

And then I heard footsteps behind me. "Missy?"

Skitter.

I turned around, and realized that I was wrong. The look of anguish on her face, the way her arms kept twitching, like she wanted to reach out to me but was afraid to... I couldn't think of her as anything but Taylor.

And then there was the look on her face as I took a single step towards her. There was hope... but also fear.

I didn't want to see that look anymore. If she wouldn't move closer, wouldn't reach out, then I'd close the distance and put my arms around her.

That got a reaction. She hugged me back, and pressed her face against the top of my head. "I'm sorry," she whispered. I thought I could feel her tears soaking through my hair. "I was wrong... about everything. I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry."

I just kept patting her on the back. This wasn't a safe place to discuss our issues. As soon as she got calmed down, we could go back and talk about things.

And maybe I needed some reassuring too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think some of my coworkers are starting to worry about me.
> 
> It wasn't like I didn't see the parallels. - Taylor would really come across as a kinghell hypocrite just complaining about the spying itself. So I tried to take it in a different direction.
> 
> pressed her face against the top of my head. - I can picture this in my head so clearly, yet can come up with no non-awkward way to describe it.


	5. Machination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a divergence from Maid to Serve chapter 6, starting shortly after a Missy with a somewhat different approach to life puts the hood on...

My heart was pounding in my chest. This was intense, more then anything I had expected. No sight, no sound, completely at the mercy of Skitter, who was so famed for her gentleness. And since I couldn’t hear her breathing, she had to be turning on the microphone or whatever to speak. She could do anything to me, and I wouldn’t have the least idea what before it actually happened.

Nothing happened.

No sight.

I could feel my heartbeat slowing down.

No sound.

I reached out with both arms.

No touch.

Nothing.

Was I alone?

I felt alone.

It wasn't cold in here. It was just me.

“Are you alright, Missy?” Skitter asked.

"Skitter? Why did you leave me alone?" I asked. At least I thought I did. It was hard to tell. "I asked you not to leave me alone."

There was a pause. I wondered if she'd left again.

"Let me get that off of you, okay?" she said.

Even after she stopped talking, I could still hear her breathing.

I felt an arm brush against me and nearly punched on sheer reflex, but I forced it down. This should be Skitter. I think? I felt around, and it felt like what Skitter had been wearing.

I felt her reach behind my head, and a bit later light returned. But my eyes weren't really focusing.

I was still cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was going over some things, and said to myself "what -would- Missy being freaked out by sensory deprivation look like?"
> 
> And then Simulated!Switch!Morgan replied "Sensory disconnect, emotional shutdown, responding to any physical contact with hostility. Also, fuck you, I'm gonna have nightmares now. Don't leave me alone, my ass."
> 
> And thus, I needed to get this out of my head. There's no special meaning to this other than that.
> 
> Well, and "yeah, I am writing someone in this kind of sensory deprivation exactly never". And should, in fact, probably avoid thinking about it whenever possible. (That bit with Tattletale doesn't count, not with Inference Engine on the job.) I need to come up with things I like to write about.
> 
> Just because the bottom has not used their safeword does not mean the top should not call a halt if things seem to be going wrong.
> 
> Machination - Noun. The state of being machine-like.


	6. Missing Forever - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's one Maid to Serve related thing I've been uncertain about posting, this is it. But the ideas here just wouldn't leave my head. I wanted to explore them, but I wanted to explore other things that this would probably cut off too.
> 
> Why I didn't think of branching sooner I don't know. It's not like I haven't read Seven of Seven or anything...
> 
> This diverges from Maid to Serve Alternate during the chapter after "The Gears of Maidness"... that does't exist yet, with Missy and Taylor having a somewhat different conversation about the events of the past weekend...

"Missy? Why do you think the Brotherhood came here?" I asked. "They should have known they couldn't win."

It wasn't that they weren't dangerous, or that they hadn't done damage.

And it could have been so much worse.

But they'd fled New York for a reason, and it wasn't because they didn't like the weather. Coming here just wasn't a reasonable plan given the resources they had to work with.

"Because they're optimists," Missy replied.

"Huh?"

"It's something Assault told me once. Criminally-inclined parahumans who... well, you can call them pessimists, or realists, or maybe just say cautious, it doesn't matter. They'll evaluate their situation and abilities carefully, find their niche, and try to stay in it. You even get a few joining the Protectorate at this point, just because they usually get better backup that way. They'll expand carefully, and try to learn from losses and avoid being in those situations again."

I nodded.

"But an optimist... they get a taste of victory once, and they never see anything else coming again. They aren't afraid of fighting losing odds, because that's just a sign that the next win is right around the corner. A strong leader can keep someone like that under control, but when they're the ones running the show, that's when you get the Brotherhood. People who just keep coming even when they don't have a chance, because they can't believe that they aren't actually better than everyone else. And they won't learn from defeat. They'll just keep on trying the same thing with different targets until they're in jail or in the ground."

Hmmm. I hadn't heard it put quite that way before, but it sounded reasonable. "So what happens next?"

Missy gave me a slightly wary look, the kind I thought came from having been patronized a lot in the past and suspecting it was happening again. "Shouldn't you know about this already?"

I shrugged. "You have a different perspective. It's interesting."

"Well, the next step with a group like this is watching to see if they start losing organizational cohesion. Even gangs that theoretically have an ideology driving them usually have one or two key people holding them together. If they lose those, that's the best opportunity to snap up the remainder before they can get absorbed by another gang, since they probably won't be able to organize breakouts at that point. The hard part is knowing when that's going to happen, since it's not always the obvious leader. I know the PRT has spent a lot of time trying to come up with plans for when the Undersiders break down, but-" Missy clapped her hands over her mouth.

I froze.

Not 'if' the Undersiders break down.

When.

"It's considered inevitable for groups that are built around strong leaders, rather than something like the way the Protectorate or the Elite work," she said in a very quiet voice.

I wasn't sure which of us I was trying to comfort as I pulled her into a hug. "And who does the PRT think are the key people in the Undersiders?"

She just shook her head.

I couldn't really blame her. Who would want to answer a question like 'Which of my friends have to die before things get -really- bad for whoever's left?'

Especially since one of the possible answers was probably me.

***

_"Yeah, Lily will be with me," Parian answered, her voice slightly muffled. "And she'll be with me when the next gang comes. And the next. And the next. Until she or I aren't there for each other anymore."_

I lurched upright in bed.

That hadn't been a dream. That was a memory.

When the next gang comes, and the next, and the next... I'd been a bit dismissive of the idea before, but now it seemed all too believable.

Until one of us isn't there for the others anymore.

***

I've been friends with Lisa for a long time. So I have some pretty good ideas of what her tastes and habits are.

For instance, I already knew that me pounding on her door at three in the morning would not be on her list of favorite ways to wake up.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to to slam a door -open-, but she managed it somehow. "Taylor, what the hell-"

"Lisa... it's never going to end, is it?"

Lisa looked at me for a moment before sighing. "No, probably not."

"What are we going to -do-?"

I'd been willing to do a lot of things I wasn't entirely proud of in recent years. Because no matter what some of it might look like from the outside, it'd been the best way I could see to keep the city safe. To keep my friends safe.

And overall I still thought we'd done more good than harm.

But how long would that hold up if we had to keep fighting these stupid little brushfire wars?

One of the last things Brigade had done on his way out of town was smash up mom's old workplace. If that wasn't as close to a sign from God as I was probably ever going to get...

Lisa waved at me to come in, and I followed her to a workroom. "If you'd asked me a couple months ago, I'm not sure I'd have had anything to tell you," she said while doing something I couldn't see on one of the computers. "But things change."

About a minute later she pulled out a USB drive and handed it to me. "Make sure you look at this on an offline system. Leaking the idea that we were even considering this would be a disaster. It's up to you if you want to share this with Vista... but you probably should."

***

There was only one file on the drive, once I got it home and onto an appropriate device. The name was obviously a code word, but something about it raised my hopes anyway.

SANCTUARY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Missing Forever - It's a Revolutionary Girl Utena reference! Kind of.
> 
> She just shook her head. - Aside from what Taylor is thinking, Missy's probably worried about saying too much here, even if she doesn't know any real details.
> 
> SANCTUARY - Out of story, named after the anime [Operation Sanctuary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuki_wa_Higashi_ni_Hi_wa_Nishi_ni).


	7. Special Delivery

**Missy**

I noticed that Taylor was frowning as I came in the room. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Taylor said. "Does anyone know that you're still coming here to see me?"

I thought about it. Miss Militia and a couple others had known about my initial visits (to a very limited degree), but shouldn't know that they'd continued, and I hadn't mentioned anything to anyone else. I knew Parian and Tattletale knew about me, I was pretty sure that wasn't what Taylor was asking about. "I don't think so. Why?"

Taylor handed me a package, and I read the label.

TO: Missy Biron  
c/o Taylor Hebert  
Skitter's Lair

Followed by the street address of the very building we were in. Though I didn't see any sign of postage or labels from delivery companies, which made it seem like even that was some kind of peculiar joke.

"I found that here this morning. My bugs don't smell anything dangerous in there, but I don't know why someone would send a package for -you- to -me-."

I shrugged. We probably weren't going to guess just by looking at the wrapping, so I went ahead and peeled it off. Inside was a book, and I read the title aloud. "'So You’re A Useless Lesbian: A Complete Guide On How To Identify And Fix Being Romantically Blind'?"

**Taylor**

I blinked. "What the hell?"

Missy looked through the book a bit. "You know," she said wryly, "I'm pretty sure if I were romantically blind that it would have come up sometime before we started dating."

I snorted. But then I started thinking about it. The way our relationship had developed was... pretty weird by almost any standard, and events had really forced us to confront how we felt about each other.

None of it would actually mean she wasn't capable of missing something more subtle... and from the way I'd seen Toggle looking at her, I got the feeling that there might be something to miss.

"Maybe you should read it anyway," I said. "Just in case."

Missy gave me a strange look at that, but pulled up a chair and started reading anyway.

Still, that only made the mystery even greater. As far as I could tell, the only person who knew there might be a reason to give Missy that book, and knew sending it here would get it to her, was...

Me.

Now wasn't that a strange thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The book Missy receives is taken from an [omake for Mauling Snarks](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/12469109/) by Drewits.
> 
> There's something both slightly amusing and slightly disturbing about the fact that if you google search "so you're a useless lesbian", the image results are nasty looking arrowheads. (Because someone posted those pictures in that thread and it's on the same page as the omake, but still... o-O )
> 
> While writing this, I had completely forgotten that Foil exists, which is why she's not mentioned alongside Parian and Tattletale.


	8. Don't Tell Me 'Cause It Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, remember how I wanted to be over the first part of chapter 4?
> 
> In the least surprising development ever, I'm totally not over it. Shocking.

**Taylor**

Missy walked slowly up the stairs, ice cubes in hand. It seemed like with every step, she got a little slower.

And then, when she was almost to the top, she stopped. Instead of climbing any further, she turned and sat down on the stairs. Her hand opened up, and the cubes fell out and started sliding droopily back down the stairs.

A little later I came out and sat down next to her. "Missy? Are you okay?"

She was hunched over with her face pressed into her arms now, and her voice was muffled by her sleeves. "No. You scared me."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I thought this was what you wanted."

"You thought I wanted what? Wanted you to make me think you were going to drown me in the bay, maybe?"

"No!" I cringed. "I just thought... that you wanted me to punish you. You even said I should be harsher..."

"Of course I said that," Missy replied, her tone full of acid. "I was doing my best to defuse you. Give you things to think about other than killing me." I recoiled again. "But why? Why did you think I wanted to be glared at and shouted at, over doing something you -love watching me do-?"

"I saw it in a movie," I admitted.

"Was I in it?" Missy asked, rubbing her chin contemplatively. "I don't remember being in any porn movies."

"It wasn't you, but there was a submissive maid, and-"

She cut me off. "So I waited for you, but even when you came back, you weren't actually with me." Her crying was even louder now. "I know we can't be together all the time. But I can't handle being with you when you're not there."

I was starting to panic. "But we've gotten past that, right? I messed up. And it wasn't even the last time! But things are different now. We've both learned a lot about each other, we're talking about things. I understand what I did wrong. Things are better now!"

Missy looked up, her eyes unreddened and free of tears. "Are you sure about that?" she asked sweetly.

***

Missy closed the freezer door, and for a moment just stared at the ice cubes she was holding. Then, with an irritated shake of her head, she tossed them into the sink.

After leaving the kitchen, she pulled her jacket on over the rest of her street clothes and left the building.

***

Sometimes I'd dream about what things could have been like, if Missy had stayed. But that's all they were, dreams.

I never learned why Vista kept giving me looks that were sometimes sad and sometimes angry...

~~~

I jerked awake.

I was alone in my bed tonight.

I was alone tonight.

I was alone.

...

Was I alone?

Had I really imagined all of it?

And then, before I could really work myself into a froth, I saw it.

Missy and I both liked to read in bed a little before going to sleep sometimes. She'd brought this book over a few days ago, left it on the the little table on the side where she usually slept. I could see the bookmark sticking out from here, a bit haphazardly placed after she'd nearly fallen asleep with her face in it.

And when I rolled over I could smell a hint of the shampoo she used on her pillow.

It wasn't all just a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly not sure this rises -much- above incoherent screaming, but I tried to have some fun with the dream logic. And after figuring out what I was doing with this, I was able to start figuring out where I wanted to go with some other stuff, so hey, progress!
> 
> I think this will in fact be canon to Maid to Serve Alternate. Missy likes to read in bed, you heard it here first. (Wait, I refuse to believe everyone doesn't do that at least sometimes.)
> 
> Don't Tell Me 'Cause It Hurts - "Don't Speak", No Doubt. Surprisingly relevant for how little of the song I can actually understand.
> 
> droopily - Ice doesn't behave like what I'm imagining, but maybe that could be ignored.
> 
> sleeves - But wait, hadn't she taken her uniform off? I actually threw this in because my original idea involved things being arranged quite a bit differently, and the first sign that something was up was Missy being in her street clothes when she went downstairs. Even if this was dismissed as me making an error, it was probably obvious shortly after this that something was up.
> 
> I messed up. - Not originally intended to be an ironic echo, but since I actively decided -not- to change the phrasing used...
> 
> Are you sure about that? - This being a relatively generic phrase does -not- stop me from hearing [Kes](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708949/characters/nm0000585) whenever I use it. And that episode actually involved dream stuff too, so it's on topic.


	9. Unavoidable Comparisons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Alternate continuity, Missy is comfortable enough to open up a little more after she and Taylor visit Danny...
> 
> This is "probably canon", but I don't know if I'll be following up on it, which is part of why I'm filing it under Sweet.

**Taylor**

"I like your dad," Missy said as I climbed onto Atlas.

"Yeah," I replied, looking over my shoulder at her. "He's pretty cool. I'm glad you got along well."

I felt Missy climb on behind me.

... Was it just me, or was Missy holding me a lot tighter than she had on the way in?

"I'm a bit jealous," she said.

What?

"Jealous?" I replied.

"I can tell he cares about you a lot. He doesn't like what you do, and I think he had some doubts about me... but he still wants you to be happy."

I didn't even know what to say to that.

Missy let out a long sigh. "My parents aren't really bad to me, you know? It's just, sometimes they're so busy sniping at each other, it feels like they've forgotten how to be -good- to me."

I reached down and patted her hand, a bit awkwardly. She probably didn't have any idea how guilty she was making me feel. Because I knew my relationship with my dad... wasn't really that good.

But she wasn't wrong about Dad, was she? I couldn't really blame the distance between us on anyone but myself. Even tonight... I'd wanted Missy to meet him, but I'd barely entertained the notion of the two of us coming over again. Because... why? I'd had a good time tonight. Why shouldn't I want to do it again? I was busy, but I wasn't -that- busy.

What the hell was holding me back here?

"Do you... would you like to visit Dad with me again sometime?" I finally asked.

"Yeah... I think I would like that," Missy replied. "I still haven't seen those pictures of you little, after all," she added with a laugh.

I groaned. "Maybe letting you spend time around Dad isn't such a good idea."

Missy just laughed again.

Maybe... maybe this was a good idea after all.

Even if I probably wouldn't be able to avoid the photo albums forever.


End file.
